Sat. Jan. 19, 2019....The Headlines...
I will provide more details on later postings...
Approved the hiring of a part time Compliance Officer.
Will not be a Surfside member.
Will only do written complaints. (This will end the need for a tree committee)
Laura Frazier has agreed to work part time after Feb. 1st., and will do the Compliance Officer position until a new hire is selected. Larry Raymer has agreed to provide training for the new hire.
Surfside has entered into an agreement with the State to lease an area in the golf course area for storage of gravel, etc. The cost is $5,000.00 a year. Seems the present location near the well field is in a wet lands and has to be moved. Also suggested that the settling pond for flushing the carbon treatment plant must also be removed. The plant it's self remains a question.
The year end legal fees exceeded the budget of 50,000.00 by actually being 112,781.99
This is 225.6% of budgeted amount.
There is a lot to digest with the financials, and will provide more information under a separate topic heading. At first glance, there are problems.
77 comments:
walked by not many cars there? guess everyone likes how things are running?
Not like we can do anything right now. They sure not going to say, or do anything in the open.
No, everyone does not like the way things are running. If anyone wold have taken the time to attend you would have been amused by the way some of the complaints were handled. More importantly though you would have had a chance to get a copy of the ledger for November and December and seen some surprisingly large and very questionable expenditures.
How does this do away with the Tree Committee? Who will measure to determine if a complaint is valid?
The compliance officer will do all investigations. That's why they are being hired.
There will be no conflict of interest with an impartial person doing the investigations. That is how it worked in the past when we had a compliance officer. The tree committee will no longer be needed. It would be better if they were proactive, but this is a good start.
Best news I’ve heard for a long time. TREE COMMITTEE ABOLISHED! What will Ms P do with all of her meddling time now? I know: go be a welcome greeter at Walmart cause she’s so darn sweet.
Given that most of the spit was originally wetlands, there doesn't seem to be any place that would not fit that description that is not member property. The pumphouse is already in that area. This is a big problem with disrespecting the permitting process. Where negotiation was likely workable, the county isn't as open to working with us on this.
The lack of any progress on making a deal with the County is troubling, and begs the question : how much effort is being put into this ? It seems very little. Our investment is standing out in the rain, only a year old and rusting. The community has not been in compliance with State standards for years on water quality, and was mishandling asbestos as well.
Williams on front page of Surf-In-Sider: "We continue to ensure our good standing with regulatory agencies...." Fines and criminal investigations are not a gesture of appreciation Gary ! We are NOT in compliance and haven't been in years.
First of all, you can bet that with her husband now a member of the Board, that the Tree Committee and its Chair will not go away, although the prized gold plated binoculars and fiber measuring stick should go to the new compliance officer. Did you know that if you have your outside light on and the physical light bulb can be seen, then you are in violation of the covenants? That decision took about 20 man hours of the Board's time to decide (including one field trip). George is correct on the legal fees. Not sure how this fits but there is a check on 11/19/18 for $30,731.47 for "Legal fees for asbestos related issues. Perhaps this is part of the other legal fees, but didn't the President of the HOA say we were only going to be out $10k? Well I guess that was just for the cancelled/lost court cases. Then later there is an expense of $41876.23 for "Asbestos Removal". Although commendable for the action, the Firewise activity lost $3958.71 last year. If we are in partnership with North Beach then why are we paying Mr. Neal $5618.95 for a mileage reimbursement? (and another $158.05 the next month) as he is usually seen driving a North Beach Water Pickup. If we are paying for that, we need to renegotiate the contract. This is in addition to the $65400 we pay the "Water System Manager" per year. BTW watch out for him to come up on the radar for the General Manager position. My kudos to the Staff or the Board to provide these reports please keep it up. However if you don't attend the Board Meetings, you probably won't be aware of what and where your assessments are being paid out as these ledgers are not sent out to the general membership. I am sure that in the practice of transparency, the Board would agree this is all information that should and will be available at any time to the general membership. Don't mean to upset anybody, but as stated above, I just had a few questions and would be glad if someone could supply answers.
Anonymous at 1:38 AM. The short lived tenure of our " independent " compliance office was a joke. He even had his own office (where the bookkeeper is now)but no clout. If we go down that same path again we will be just throwing more $$$ into the cesspool.
The complaint driven method to enforce covenants is a sure way to create discontent, distrust and chaos. Surfside needs covenant enforcement that is fair, timely and consistent with an employee who patrols the entire hoa to find and enforce out covenants as well as respond to complaints.
The HOA uses whatever criteria they wish to use to justify enforcement action. Many complaints are not sound enough matters to proceed with enforcement. A complaint driven system isn't perfect, but establishes that a matter should be looked into.
Without using complaints as a key, enforcement over minutia tends to run wild. There are some who want a police state in Surfside, but such an approach quickly builds anger and serious hostility that can make a mess out of a nice community. Keep enforcement at a minimum, work with owners to resolve conflicts, avoid lawyers and lawsuits over this nonsense. Work toward everyone's happiness, not just complainers and wanna be junior policemen.
There are plenty of covenant violations that are definitely not minutia. It would take a full time enforcement officer at least 10 years to get to anything that would be defined as minutia. We don't want a police state hoa. We want a tidy, attractive, safe community that is not fueled by distrust and hate. Second thoughts ---- the only members who would object to timely, fair and full covenant enforcement would be those members who are covenant violators. The rest of us have nothing to worry about.
Wish that was the case.
If you feel you don't have anything to worry about here, you are not watching carefully enough.
Our association is being held hostage by a special interest group. Fair covenant enforcement is an oxymoron here.
Funny you say you dont want a police state HOA - we already have one. To achieve your goals, you first need to drain the swamp.
The present system of enforcement has divided our community and made member compliance and enforcement worse. The tree committee in particular, has cost the association thousands of dollars. It would be a big improvement for the compliance officer to be someone outside of surfside. The tree committee is a conflict of interest. With the hire of a compliance officer, there will be no need for the tree committee as the investigations will be done by the compliance officer. That officer will be working for the entire community and not subject to meddling by a group of J placers and their friends.
Dream on 11:08. You did read the new manager requirements n duties n who they would answer too?
The usual typical rant about the tree Committee has no merit. All they do is measure trees in response to a complaint that they are informed of by the current compliance officer. Simple as that. So tell me, when this new compliance gets the same type of complaint an goes out to measure, like the Tree folks do, and determines that the trees are above height limits and the complaint is valid, like the Tree folks do, does that mean you same people are not going to complain about it?
Yeah, right.
Does that also mean same anonymous members be making the complaints but not have the means to measure? Lol. Ones making complaints have an agenda, as most trees block no views. Its more about forcing compliance for future use.
Is It Ethical?
During the last election cycle the board mailed out to the membership along with the ballots, a statement of their non support for the measure concerning electronic voting. The board authorized this measure to be placed on the ballot, and then encouraged the membership to not support it. If the board can do this why didn’t a counter argument by those supporting the measure also be mailed out to the membership with the ballots. This was an underhanded tactic by the board and very disheartening to those who supported the measure. I did not believe the board was so desperate to insure that a measure would fail. What do they fear? This is a membership organization that was not served well by this board in this action. Let the MEMBERS decide what is best by casting their vote without influence of just 9 people who think they know better.
It is not ethical, but keep in mind that not all the board even knew about the letter included in the ballot mailing. They are either to dumb or don't care enough to do anything about it. I can't figure out why they continue to look the other way time and again with the un-ethical and many times illegal actions of the President and his cronies. We need to get rid of all of them and start over. It can't get any worse than it is now.
Wait until the rest of the fines and legal fees come in. It can, and probably will get worse.
Surfside will never be a model community that is "neat and tidy". It has never been intended that this would be a homogenous tightly controlled community of perfect lawns and perfect homes. This is a recreational community that began as primarily a camping and RV destination, and Surfside is obligated to continue to honor those diverse uses.
More enforcement will not change the basic nature of this community, while more enforcement WILL create a lot of animosity, there being plenty already. People who defend the Tree Policy as making the community "safer", and those who want a "neat and tidy" community can't seem to grasp that this is a remote area in the middle of vast wild lands.
The weather tends to be ever changing and intense, the soil infertile, and trying to paint a house or do exterior maintenance in such conditions is very challenging most of the time. People make utilitarian choices to deal with these challenges such as cedar shake siding and low maintenance landscape solutions. Everything shows the stress of Coastal weather, both beautiful and intimidating.
Neat and tidy is certainly possible within all the limitations noted by the commenter at 10:35. I don't believe that any Surfside members have expectations of perfect lawns and perfect homes. We are all well aware that this is not an hoa in Arizona, California or near cities in Oregon and Washington. That is no excuse for members to ignore the covenants or to leave their property unattended and unattractive. The problem is irresponsible members, not the climate or location.
The tree committee was no abolished lol
Who ever said Laura Frazer is a nonbiased as a compliance officer, she knows everyone here and likes some and dislikes even more.
They have no reason to care as long as the fix is still firmly in place. They control the positions and the election process - members of another opinion need not apply.
This association may be beyond salvage. Dissolution may be the only way to restore sanity, and to remove these people from any position of authority.
The problems start with a corrupt Board. People might look at their property differently, if they knew they were being treated fairly..
Fed Up is such a ray of sunshine, isn't he/she? Don't know what happened between them if anything, but given the amount of vitriol Fed Up spouts here almost daily whatever Ms. Olds might have said was probably warranted. If you get rude responses constantly be it from Committee members, office workers or people on the street and you find yourself complaining about it all the time maybe it's YOU that is the problem not them.
Amen 2:11
The HOA Board has failed the membership miserably and all you can talk about is needing more enforcement to make the community more neat and tidy ? You're out to lunch. The BOT gambled away $75,000 on a lawsuit against Johansen and WITHDREW the lawsuit. This is where manic enforcement leads - harassment of owners and the pissing away of vast sums of money.
Our community is terribly in debt at this point, with a pile of County, State and Federal fines. This is everyone's problem to address and it has far more significance than unkempt lawns in the middle of Winter, trees a few inches "too high", or eaves "too long". What a complete joke !! Your priorities are completely out of whack.
Amen 2:45. You speak the truth.
Do we have a new board member?
why are you people incapable of comprehending the concept of fair and timely covenant enforcement as opposed to complaint method? the covenant enforcement issues that have been costly would not exist if the enforcement had been fair and timely.
I'm gathering a record of all the SHOA Pacific County permitting failures, fines for no permits, and denials of permits since approximately 2000.
Instead of attacking members for violations, why doesn't SHOA comply with regulations? Pacific County, WA L&I, and EPA need to perform regulation enforcement on SHOA.
01/22/19 3:33.
What is fair and timely? I've seen nothing that explains it. I see. Only the board decides in this hoa. I, as a member, demand a say in this change. I demand the members vote on changes of our hoa. When will the enforcement change be filed with Pacific County?
When will the overhang change be filed with Pacific County?
Right on 4:03!
I've been consulting with attorneys.
We are not "terribly in debt", no matter how much you wish it was true. In fact we are better off than most HOA's.
You expose your poor sense of judgement by making the ludicrous claim that I "wish it true" that the HOA is "terribly in-debt". You obviously think this is all just a big rumor that the HOA management has failed miserably, and we will be paying dearly for that failure.
We are a large community, and have a large operating budget. Assessments for 2019 have been pouring in, and Gary Williams and his supporters have embarked on yet another weak and unnecessary lawsuit at great expense to our community, after spending about $115,000 on legal expenses in 2018. I saw a figure of about $44,000 spent on asbestos abatement, with tens of thousands in fines levied on Surfside, more legal expenses and fines from the EPA yet to come.
We are in debt to the Reserve Account, likely did not make the installment budgeted toward that, have not built the enclosing structure for the CTP, have not secured permits to complete the Waterworks Project which may be mandated to be relocated at great expense.
Deferred maintenance and loan payments that are budgeted and not made amounts to great debt, when added to all of the fines and legal costs, so you can pretend we are not in a bad way financially, but we haven't seen the end of the criminal investigation, and don't know what ongoing obligations we may have to employees who were exposed needlessly to asbestos.
Well said 8:56 AM. You definitely don't have blinders on or your head in the sand like 6:53 AM.
Sure 9:25, as if you are not blindly agreeing with anyone who speaks negatively about the board and the community no matter the content.
I will never trust the BOT of a HOA that doesn't allow the members to vote on changes to the ByLaws, Operations, or CC&Rs.
12:44 am- Members vote on those items at the annual membership meeting. Submit the members request form and it can be added to the agenda for that meeting. All changes go before the membership at least 30 days prior to the voting, either by the board or the membership.
You are wrong or we are talking about different topics. The new overhang limit regulation in 2018 was not voted on by the members.
What are you asking me to request for the July Annual Meeting?
Everything is sent out to the members 30 days prior to a vote. Any changes to the CCR's is sent out to the membership prior to the annual meeting in July. That is the only meeting members vote, all others are board meetings and the members don't vote. The board has to send any changes out to the membership, the members can vote if it is a members meeting, if its a regular board meeting members can express their concerns for that item during floor comments at a regular board meeting. You can submit requests for changes to the board and those come up at the members meeting.
Then why was I never notified to vote on the overhang limit regulation?
Who are you? Are you a BOT Member?
1:41 PM
What are you asking me to request?
The information was out there, just like the times and procedures of the last budget board meeting, another item you failed to pay attention to that most did.
What do you mean, "the information was out there"? I failed? How did I fail?
What did I fail to do?
Who are you? I'm not afraid to use my name regarding this conversation. What are you afraid of regarding this conversation?
The shed change was sent out to the members prior to the annual meeting last July. The board then voted on it in August after the new board members were voted in.
Im not asking you to do anything, Im telling you if you want to change things you need to know how they are working. You don't sound like you know how and what members vote on. It like any corporation with a board of directors making the decisions
I told you the information was not sent to me. You blamed me for that. You told me I failed to do something. So I ask you again. What did I fail to do?
Wow, you won't even tell me who you are. I don't understand you hiding your identity from me.
Your probably one of those that want me to leave.
Ok, I'm putting my lot up for sale. I'll call Lighthouse Realty today.
I have lived here over a decade and watched the relationship between management and members deteriorate greatly. I also attend most of the Board meetings. I do not recall the shed overhang issue being made known at any time to the general membership. The only time it was addressed was when the Board tried to say the change was in place so they could take Patrick to court. Perhaps you can provide concrete proof that it was a topic at the annual meeting and that “the information was out there”? The Board specifically chose to wait until a monthly meeting so the general membership couldn’t address the issue in an open general membership meeting. They held it to a normally sparsely attended monthly meeting where even if there was significant objection by the members, the Board would pass it regardless. It was only a way to ”justify” in a minor way, their lawsuit. There was no other reason. The Board, specifically Mr Williams, got caught and reacted in a childish manner, harming the entire community in the process. As far as the comparison with a corporation, members of a Board can be voted off by the stockholders at any time, not like these folks with their guaranteed terms. Having served on many Boards myself, this one is unique, and not in a good way.
Thanks for the truth 8:01 AM.
The BOT Member on here is trying to blame me for their corruption of this new overhang rule. I'm new since April 2018. I happened to attend the meeting when this corrupt BOT approved the new overhang rule for the reason 8:01 AM states. Being so new at the time and not knowing of this blog, I had no knowledge of the Patrick lawsuit. At the meeting, I asked, "Why regulate overhangs?" from the floor. Gary Williams said, "We need to stop members from leaning shovels and things against their structures. It doesn't look good.". Clearly Corruption and Money Wasted!
You will see my lot for sale soon.
It was in the Surfnsider, that was sent out in June with the ballots
You illegal, corrupt SHOA BOT Member and entire illegal, corrupt SHOA BOT.
The Surf-in-Sider June 2018 was never published on the SHOA website. I just checked. It is not there. This is more malfeasance and corruption evidence of this SHOA BOT documented on this blog.
In fact most of the Surf-in-Sider newsletters of 2018 are not published on the SHOA website.
I'm contacting the WA Secretary of State relatively soon.
You are wrong again Mr Riley, look under publications, you will see June 2017 which is the surfnsider that was sent out
Last June was not June 2017 whoever you are. I have no idea who you are.
I've sent Gary Williams an email today asking for proof of the overhang rule proposal notice to the members. I'll let you know what his response is or if he ignores me. If he responds using his personal email, I'll make sure to respond back using both his SHOA email and his personal email.
The BOT has no standing in issuing a violation for “overhang” prior to their sham change of covenant. It would be like putting up a No Parking sign and then going back and ticketing you for parking there years ago. Even the HOA lawyer told the Board that any covenant change can only take affect AFTER the change is actuall made.
Funny, I can find them all. Including the one before the annual meeting that mentions the shed. I would offer to come over to give you instruction but having witness your conduct I'm not up for the abuse.
Mr. Riley.
Before I get to your failure question let me say this. Your constant accusation that anyone who disagrees with you or who points out your mistakes is a board member and the also constant accusations of corruption has reached the chicken little stage.
Now to the failure to pay attention that I said in my comment.. As others have mentioned the info was out there prior to the vote. To the budget board meeting, aren't you the one who showed up late because you "failed" to read the times on the SHOA site and also on this blog? You then got all upset about YOUR failure and because of that we who did attend at the right time had to sit through a recap because of you. Aren't you also the one who had proxies that couldn't be submitted because you "failed" to pay attention once again to published procedures concerning them? That covers my comment and should answer your question.
As to who I am. I'm one of those old folks who you came on here to say you couldn't wait to die so you can build your house. If you are truly selling, which I doubt, guess I'll be living long enough to see you leave. As to why I don't use my name, it's quite a simple reason. After witnessing first hand your conduct as I described above along with how you comment on here, I want to avoid potential jail time.
Good luck with the Sec of State. I'm sure they will get right on it.
I see whoever you are. You are changing the subject. That is classic diversion tactic.
What about no proof of notice given to the members about the overhang rule addition? You still have provided no proof.
We can rehash last November if you wish. I explained my situation, reasonable interpretation of proxy voting, and why I did what I did. The fact remains. If the BOT values member input, they would have accepted all votes provided that day. Members took time to participate. Instead, the BOT chose to reject member votes cast that day. You and the BOT stopped change again. Since I'm so new, I really can't say "again" because that was my first experience trying to make change. It was a miserable, humiliating experience.
I can't wait until July and November.
Would 6:18 please give us the directions to get to the isurf-in-snider that you refer to. As with others, the web page only lists Weekenders, nothing else. Thank you.
Fact Check...
To find the past Surf-In-Sider's go to the Surfside web page and in the left side column part way down, click on Past News Letters.
This will give you the list to click on. The last listing is Jan. 2018. There have been 2 issues since then. As with much information on their web, it is out of date or far behind current events or publications. Perhaps you could send a request to the Business for a mailed hard copy or an electronic version mailed to you. As you are seeing, it is difficult to get information, especially current. Hope this helps.
I emailed Gary Williams yesterday asking for the Surf-in-Sider June 2018. If I get it, I'll let you know. The other person on here said the information was on the 2017 document. Clearly, a cover up. I believe he's full of it. I don't find it on there.
As you mentioned George, the HOA website only show the Surf-in-Sider up to Jan 2018. So did the person saying they have the article keep their June copy? If so, I would like to have the article on the shed overhang republished as I don't recall ever seeing it. Also there are quite a few members stating that they never received the newsletter or a ballot. It is such a stupid covenant anyway, again just a way for the BOT to justify their lawsuit against Patrick.
The Surfside website not updated in a timely manner with all publications is deplorable. Some members not receiving newsletters or ballots is not acceptable. How long do we have to endure with incompetent office personnel as well as no oversight from a dingbat board? Good riddance to the current so called Business Manager. We are long overdue for some quality work coming out of our office personnel. Decent salaries and bonuses have never been earned by office personnel with their lackluster and often incompetent job performance.
Exactly 01/27/19 10:16 PM, deplorable and unacceptable. I'm so angry and pissed off.
All of what you said, well said.
Let's make plans for July and November 2018. I'm willing to be a SHOA BOT Member.
People keep overlooking the reason for the overhang covenant. It was to put down what is acceptable because people claimed the interpretation was to vague and it left open people abusing it. And it was in the weekender which is on the website.
Sorry Mr. Riley, no diversion tactic. You asked a question and I answered it. The procedures and times for the November meeting were clearly stated. To your statement "reasonable interpretation", now that is a diversion tactic. I guess you don't understand the concept of rules and procedures and expect people to change them for you. Quite selfish. Do you also show up late for the local elections and expect them to take your ballot too?
And why are you waiting for November? I thought you were leaving? Just more spouting off I guess.
Angry and pissed off, no kidding. Sure makes your last name appropriate, doesn't it?
So how many people complaining here will run for the board next year??
Depends on who is left on current board.
Attack me and my name all you want folks. I've got thick skin and was bullied a lot growing up so this is nothing new to me.
There are very few of us with the sincerity, courage, transparency, and guts to use their name on here. I am one of them, 10:33 and 10:36 are not.
I will soon find out if local real estate agents are disclosing the EPA investigation and state water l&i violations to prospective buyers. I'm working with a real estate agent right now to list my property.
What are they to disclose? EPA is shut down, lawyers say they can't talk about it and investigation won't continue until the government opens up. You don't even know what the results will be
Govt is not shutdown, where have you been?
Ok, Mr. Riley.
I salute your sincerity, courage, transparency and guts. We as a community are privileged to have a person such as you living here. Now just work on the reading skills so as to show up on time to meetings and you'll be pretty much perfect.
Don't judge a book by its cover. Look at all applications for the compliance position, inside and outside surfside. You have a very qualified and fair applicant right in front of you. 30 years experience and treats everyone on the same level.
And who would that be? And, what level?
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